Carnivàle/Lonnigan, Texas

Lonnigan, Texas
Season 1, Episode 8
Airdate	November 2, 2003
Production Number	108
Written by	Daniel Knauf
Directed by	Scott Winant
← 1x07 The River	1x09 → Insomnia
Carnivàle — Season One

Lonnigan, Texas is the eighth episode of the first season of Carnivàle, and the eighth episode overall.

Guest-Starring:

Co-Starring:

Featuring:

Plot Overview

Things continue to be difficult for the Dreifusses. Still unwilling to have sex with his wife after the death of their youngest daughter, Stumpy seeks out Jonesy for help. He convinces Jonesy to spend the night with Rita Sue in order to give Stumpy a break. Jonesy and Rita Sue are both reluctant, but both cave in and wind up sleeping together.

Ben, meanwhile, is sent on a roadtrip by Samson (and presumably Management ) to track down the so-called "Scorpion Boy" in the town of Gunderson and have him sign a contract with Carnivàle. Scorpion Boy, as it turns out, is really Lobster Gal, and on the way to find her, Ben is outwitted by a rival freak-hunter, Phineas Boffo. Boffo signs Lobster Gal, but not before Ben steals his Templar ring after it triggers a jarring vision. Boffo, an old friend of Samson's, tracks Ben down at the carnival, and Samson has Ben return the ring (which has "In Hoc Signo Vinces" inscribed on it).

During his stay in the mental ward, Justin learns to control his telepathic powers, and find that he can psychically manipulate people into doing virtually whatever he wants.

Finally, as the carnival is preparing to shut down for the night, Samson heads into Management's trailer, only to find Lodz already inside and discussing Ben and Scudder with the still unseen Management. Management tells Samson to "leave us," and a shaken Samson vacates the trailer. Once he's outside, he pulls an old watch fob from his pocket, and the audience sees that it bears the Templar crest and the "In Hoc Signo Vinces" inscription. Samson flips the fob around, and we see that the fob also bears the inscription H.S. on the back. In one form or another, Henry Scudder was a Templar.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• During his stay in the mental ward, Justin comes to grips with the power within him. He comes to view himself as "the Left Hand of God," and believes that he is God's "will made flesh." Justin also toys with his burgeoning telepathic powers during an interview with the local psychiatrist, first pointing out a spelling error on the man's sheet that he couldn't possibly have seen, and then causing the doctor to write something down and then forget that he'd written it. Justin will use this same power to force the doctor to transcribe his treatise, Acts of Redemption, and in the second season when he frames Dolan for the fire at the Dignity Ministry. Justin also uses his powers to quiet a psychotic inmate, by whispering "Be still."

• Ben is on a "Wanted" poster at the gas station near Gunderson. The poster says that he's a chain-gang escapee wanted for murder and that the reward is $300.

Characters

• Lodz once again offers to teach Ben, and Ben refuses him just like the last time.

• Sofie confronts her mother about not knowing who her father is, and a furious Apollonia telekinetically slaps Sofie, who responds by physically slapping her mother and storming out of the trailer.

• When Sofie temporarily joins the Cooch show (in a non-nude capacity), Jonesy loses it when he sees her dressed up as a geisha in front of the men. When one of the men starts stroking Sofie's leg, Jonesy launches himelf at the man, and starts a fight that Samson has to break up.

Referbacks

• Ben saw Lobster Gal in his dream in Milfay.

Dream Sequences and Visions

• Ben dreams of the aftermath of Belyakov's encounter with Bruno the bear. We see Belyakov, missing both legs, his left arm, and his left eye. When Ben wakes from the dream, he finds that he, too, is missing his legs and his left arm, and that Justin is crouched nearby, watching him. Then Ben realizes that this is also a dream and wakes up for real. Lodz is crouched next to him in the same location that Justin was in the dream.

• When Ben touches Boffo's ring for the first time, a violent vision of armed Templars and severed heads. The ring bears the inscription "In hoc signo vinces," and is the same one we saw in Ben's dream in Milfay.